That's what happens when politicians who choose to ignore the very basic biological fact that teenagers love sex, have always loved sex, and always will love sex set the rules governing what kids can be taught. It's easy enough to see the appeal in this approach, the idea that, if you ignore something long enough, it might disappear. Harder to fathom is why there is such opposition to provide common-sense instruction telling kids how best to prevent pregnancy, avoid STDs, and generally have a safe and healthy sex life. They're going to be doing it regardless.

U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert of Tyler, who represents nearly 1 million Americans in Congress, offered us a brief but enlightening glimpse into that line of thinking yesterday when he appeared on David Barton's WallBuilders Live radio show. Here's a sample, via Right Wing Watch:

Let the kids be innocent. Let them dream. Let them play. Let them enjoy their life. You don't have to force this sexuality stuff into their life at such a point. It was never intended to be that way. They'll find out soon enough. And, in fact ... mankind has existed for a pretty long time without anyone ever having to give a sex-ed lesson to anybody. And now we feel like, oh gosh, people are too stupid to unless we force them to sit and listen to instructions. It's just incredible.

Sex ed doesn't teach kids how to breed, of course. Anyone still unfamiliar with Gohmert might suspect that his comments would seem less ridiculous when given the full context of what he was saying.

But no. Gohmert continues on in the radio appearance to say that sex ed reminds him of that time when he was an exchange student in the Soviet Union back in the 1970s and learned that children there didn't actually belong to their parents. That, he argues, is what really sex ed programs are -- an attempt by liberals to subvert the nuclear family and replace it with the state.